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Clav wrote:This is not going to be easy, but I think MN in 6, hopefully things look better than what happened today. I have confidence it will

Why would you think that? The Suns obliterated us every game this season.

Tukkerwolf wrote:

Clav wrote:This is not going to be easy, but I think MN in 6, hopefully things look better than what happened today. I have confidence it will

Why would you think that? The Suns obliterated us every game this season.

Ant also has not had a good game against them at all. He was pressing to me yesterday. They’ve got to figure out a way to defend the three ball.

Good test right out the gate.

Tukkerwolf wrote:

Clav wrote:This is not going to be easy, but I think MN in 6, hopefully things look better than what happened today. I have confidence it will

Why would you think that? The Suns obliterated us every game this season.

Well one of the 3 games was with KAT out and one of the other games is with trying to get KAT some game action. Ant took 7 shots yesterday and it wasn't because anyone on Phoenix is an elite defender because none of them are. I'll be worried about the Suns if we're down 2-0 going back to Phoenix. Otherwise the season series doesn't mean much to me. We're bigger, deeper, better defensively, and have homecourt.

Ant took 7 shots because the Suns game plan is to triple team him and make him turn it over.

Finch and Ant haven’t figured out a counter to that yet.

Suns -115
Wolves -105
Odds per DraftKings

Suns -120
Wolves -102
Odds per FanDuel

BlacJacMac wrote:Suns -115
Wolves -105
Odds per DraftKings

Suns -120
Wolves -102
Odds per FanDuel

No clue how that works. Are the Suns favored?

This is why I never cared for being the number one seed. I wanted us to play the nuggets first and give the bench more time to develop. Now we're going to get exposed because our "leader" can't help but to turn the ball over and take bad shots. I think this will be a sweep because finch can't seem to correct Ant and Towns when they start to make horrible decisions and then we have to depend on mike to get us back in the game. Ant for whatever reason can't help but to push off on other players when he goes for a block now and Towns thinks he's Magic Johnson with his passing. The coaching staff needs to do their jobs because they keep making the same mistakes. It's (God Forbid) going to take a top Suns player to sit out in order for us to have a chance. Finch has a lot of work to do with his game plan because that last game was eye opening.

Tukkerwolf wrote:

Clav wrote:This is not going to be easy, but I think MN in 6, hopefully things look better than what happened today. I have confidence it will

Why would you think that? The Suns obliterated us every game this season.

Yes I know. There's some matchups I think that can go Minny's way if they can execute. I'm just a little more optimistic of a plus defensive team in the playoffs than a primary jumpshooting team. I see it like -- both teams need to do what they did really well in the RS to win and continue their style. That benefits a slower pace team such as our Wolves in the playoffs because possessions do slow down and defenders clue in better to what the offense is doing (especially with PO scouting and strategy).

PHX constantly was picked apart defensively this year, they relied on big runs and space to play well. That's not the greatest matchup straight up for MN, but also PHX is not a big team and they will have issues continuing runs if they cannot retrieve their misses. I think the margins get closer for the POs in regard to our 0-3 record in the RS vs the Suns.

So... in conclusion, MN is are considerably a bigger team than the Suns, and forcing Beal, Book, and KD into defensive action will tire them out. The size we present can limit some of the jumpshooting prowess, and I hope I'm right! Should not be an easy series and the last game of the season kind of primed us for some spicy action as the teams were a bit angsty against each other on the court.

Sometimes, matchups just change in the postseason. It's a different environment.

Last year in the series between Minnesota and Oklahoma City, every game was within 10 points. In the play-in tournament, we blew them out of the water.

We aren't facing the 73-9 Warriors here. They can be beat.

Klomp wrote:Sometimes, matchups just change in the postseason. It's a different environment.

Last year in the series between Minnesota and Oklahoma City, every game was within 10 points. In the play-in tournament, we blew them out of the water.

We aren't facing the 73-9 Warriors here. They can be beat.

Not the same situation. And the chances are about the same playing that Warriors team. With both teams the Wolves would have to take care of the ball, shoot over 52%, Kat can't foul out. The other team would have to turn the ball over a lot and have a bad shooting night. The odds of all of that are slim.

Folklore wrote:

Klomp wrote:Sometimes, matchups just change in the postseason. It's a different environment.

Last year in the series between Minnesota and Oklahoma City, every game was within 10 points. In the play-in tournament, we blew them out of the water.

We aren't facing the 73-9 Warriors here. They can be beat.

Not the same situation. And the chances are about the same playing that Warriors team. With both teams the Wolves would have to take care of the ball, shoot over 52%, Kat can't foul out. The other team would have to turn the ball over a lot and have a bad shooting night. The odds of all of that are slim.

On average, Phoenix is worse than Minnesota in taking care of the ball. Two of the three games, they finished with 12 and 9 turnovers, when they average just under 15 a game on the season. Additionally, on the season, Phoenix forces the 7th-fewest turnovers per game (12.7 per game), but Minnesota had two of the nine times Phoenix forced 18+ turnovers this season.

Would also point out that Phoenix had two of their three best 3-point shooting nights of the season against us.

I really wish Finch had try something different in the last game so we know if a smaller lineup would work. Add on the fact that Finch seems stubborn with changing game plan during game (maybe our players are too dumb to change mid game) and calling Timeouts. Suns going to have some hot runs and I don't know how we are going to break them. I can't see how we win this series with anything less than some miracle. Would have to play super high level one-one defense of Ant on Beal, NAW on Booker, Towns/JMcD on KD.

Also, can we get a Wolves v Suns pf thread going?

Some of you are really down for no logical reason. Here are our advantages over the Suns:

1) Defense
2) Physicality on BOTH ENDS
3) Size
4) Coaching [I like Vogel but see Finch as a better bet given how well I thought he has done against Denver and Memphis in the past]

So, now Suns are in 7th seed, getting there in the most lucky way, Lakers and GSW are likely playoff bound. NOP and Kings are going to be the sacrificial things. Call it the tax payer privilege if there is ever a real conspiracy in the NBA beside NYK gets Ewing There is good reason to go over 2nd apron, we may had gotten a win over PHX.

Suns are 6th. Winner of Lakers/Pelicans will be 7th.

Either Warriors or Kings will be eliminated tonight.

BlacJacMac wrote:Suns are 6th. Winner of Lakers/Pelicans will be 7th.

Either Warriors or Kings will be eliminated tonight.

No chance Kings wins tonight. Dyrmond will drag Sabonis out on technical fouls or poke his eye out.

Kings crushing the Warriors.

Kings- 8 turnovers